3 Count: Anonymous Indictment
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1: 13 alleged members of Anonymous hacking group indicted, accused of participating in Operation Payback
First off today, Gil Aegerter at NBC News reports that thirteen alleged members of the group “Anonymous” have been indicted on conspiracy charges related to “Operation Payback”, which saw the group launch denial of service attacks against various targets including the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America and the U.S. Copyright Office among others.
The attacks, which were launched in 2010, were initially in retaliation to the shutdown of The Pirate Bay and targeted copyright oriented organizations that spoke out against piracy. However, the attacks slowly spread to tackle other political topics, such as Wikileaks.
The attacks were designed to cripple the sites of the organizations by flooding them with useless traffic, causing them to shut down. Nearly all of the sites involved went down for a period of time though were quick to come back online once the attack ended.
2: Judge finds Cameron created ‘Avatar’
Next up today, Dave McNary at Variety reports that a California state judge has dismissed a lawsuit against director James Cameron, saying that a lawsuit claiming ownership of elements of the movie “Avatar” had no merit.
Cameron was sued by Eric Ryder, who previously worked at Cameron’s company, Lightstorm Entertainment, and claimed to have written the script and developed much of the imagery, which he pitched to Cameron while there. Though the lawsuit made some initial progress, the judge has now dismissed the case saying that “Avatar” is wholly Cameron’s creation.
Ryder and his attorneys have said that they disagree with the court’s ruling and are considering an appeal.
3: Fox Television Beats Man’s Lawsuit Over ‘Burn Notice’ Character
Finally today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that Fox Television has won the dismissal of a lawsuit over its TV show “Burn Notice”.
The lawsuit was filed by Michael Terry, a man who claims to be the inspiration for the series lead character, Michael Weston. He further claimed that the show was based on his memoirs. He sued for misappropriation of his likeness and sought injunctive relief against the show, which recently aired its final episode.
In the lower court, Fox was able to secure a dismissal early in the case’s proceedings, under the reasoning that Terry’s claim of “likeness” does not expand to fictional characters, but Terry appealed. However, the California appellate court sided with the lower court in dismissing the case.
Suggestions
That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.
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